We are in the midst of the time of the greatest urgency for American Christianity in who knows how long. Recent pew research studies have shown that only 63% of people in the United States IDENTIFY as Christian. And thus, guess what, I guarantee that number is lower, because it will include groups like Mormon and Jehovah Witness! To drive this urgency here is another disturbing fact: the number of those who attend church since the COVID pandemic began is at the same levels today. These statistics should concern you greatly, because this means one-third or more have stopped attending church. We are in a time of great urgency.
No longer today is the social norm being a Christian. No longer is Sunday held in high regard as the day of worship. And dear people, Jesus is coming, and our Lord warns us repeatedly that the final day will come like a thief in the night and you do not know the day or the hour (Matthew 24:36-44). You are not going to get a warning bell that Jesus is coming. In fact, the warnings we have received are happening even now!
We are additionally warned not to be consumed with this life. As Jesus tells in the parable of the rich man, “And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:19-21)
What then do you find is urgent to you? Or to word it differently, what is your god? The Lord warns in Luke 16:13, “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” What is most important to you? Is it getting your children and grandchildren into the best schools or on the best sports teams? Is it making more money? Is your goal simply to get to your lake house to escape the heat? Are you just tired and want a day to rest and relax?
Or is our life centered around the gift of repentance: hearing the Word of God and receiving the sacrament? Is the urgency in seeing your children or neighbors and know they are not going to church or have embraced false teachings? Are you concerned? Do you worry that your children, grandchildren, and friends no longer hold to the vows they made in the rite of confirmation? Are our vows just lip service to God? Hear them again, “Do you intend to hear the Word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully? Do you intend to live according to the Word of God, and in faith, word, and deed to remain true to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even to death? Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it?”
Well, sure I’m concerned, but only if I can skip church once a month to go to my lake house. Sure, I care, but I still want my child to skip church and go to their tournaments on the weekends. Sure it’s important, but only if I can be certain I will not get sick at church.
Maybe it has become something else. I just want my children to be happy and they don’t like going to this church. It’s not that important what church I go to or my family members go to. In fact, I can believe what ever I want to and it doesn’t matter what church I belong to, let alone even go to church! But the phrase, Lex Orandi Lex Credendi matters. (It means: the way of worship is the way of belief and is an early church phrase that dates back to the 5th century.) If I was to go to a church that denies the Sacrament is the true body and blood in, with, and under the bread and wine for the forgiveness of my sins, that church’s belief is my public confession.
What then is most urgent? The truth. The salvation of you and your loved ones. We do not confess once saved always saved, because Scripture does not. In the letter to the Hebrews, the writer has to say, “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” He writes around 70AD, and if the Day was drawing near then, well guess what! It is getting closer, but the reality is, the Day is always near. We see this in the case of Jerry Paul Redman or my member from my last church, Seth Rasmuson, who died in a plane crash during a routine training mission on an osprey. The Day is now to be ready, let us not think we have time and can wait to get around it.
Today begins the urgency. For this reason you have called me as your Pastor. I am here to preach, teach, and administer the sacraments as Paul teaches us in 2 Timothy 4:2-4, “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” The ears are itching; so many want to be entertained and told they are right so they can continue life on their merry way.
I therefore encourage you, embrace the urgency. It is time to be ready. Now is the time. You know who it is that has wandered off in order to get their itching ears scratched. It is time to teach, now, what embracing false teaching does. With that, it is time to get back to the basics for us. Let us become grounded in the faith. Let us hold fast to the promise of the Word of God. You, dear Christian, have the truth. The Word of God is the inerrant and inspired word of God. You have your catechism as well, the correct exposition of the Word of God. So let’s get the message right and let’s get the message out. Believe and confess this wonderful faith!
